I bought this modem to replace the tm822g from comcast. My setup had the tm822g and an asus rt-ac66u, however, due to an issue with comcast I wont go into, I was being charged a rental fee for a modem that I had purchased. All of the other modems that were compatible with comcast did not offer the emta for voice so I was faced with either buying a modem and paying for a triple play that had voice i couldn't utilize. or pay 250 dollars for an arris that had emta but was based off the highly controversial intel puma6 chipset which has been documented as having flaws and being unstable. On top of that, all the devices that had emta were all in one gateway devices that provided routing and wireless which I did not want. I wanted a lean modem that literally only did modem and voice things. After some arguing with comcast they told me the cm500v was coming out in approximately 1 week and it would be what I am looking for.
The CM500V has 16 downstream channels compared to the 8 channels on the tm822g. I do not notice any difference in top speed with this new modem as the bursts seem to cap at around 240mbps. It does seem though that when the modem is under load it seems to handle it better having more downstream channels to spread the bandwidth over. This modem does future proof a little as it would be adequate if comcast decides to up the speed to 686mbps at some point. Although, if that were to happen I would need to replace the AC66U because the CTF hardware acceleration on packet switching from the wan tops out around 300mbps.
That all aside, I had no problem installing the modem. I plugged it in and it booted up and I was directed to the comcast walled garden. I put in my account information and it rebooted and was working within minutes. I did not have to call comcast. Once the modem was working I plugged it into my router and then I lost wan connectivity. Once I rebooted the router and the modem everything was up and running again. Since I was plugged directly into the modem from my laptop when it first booted up it got an IP address based on the MAC address of my laptop. That was why i lost connectivity when i plugged it into the router. Once I rebooted them both the modem pulled a new ip address and everything was good. The modem has been rock solid since with no issues on the phone or voice side.
If you want a modem that is literally only an internet and voice modem that doesn't do any routing (because you have your own routing hardware) and doesn't have wifi (again because you have a router or an AP for that) than this modem is adequate and fits into a nice price point. It also is based off a broadcom chipset and is not susceptible to the issues people are reporting on devices that have been based off the faulty intel puma 6 chipset like the arris 6190. There has supposedly been promised a firmware update to fix the 6190 but it has yet to be seen. The arris 6183 is not affected by this issue in fact, the 6183 uses the same broadcom chipset the cm500v does. The key difference is that the cm500v has voice and the 6183 does not. The 6183 is one of the most popular retail modems and this devices is every bit its equal despite its slightly higher pricepoint, which as you may note, is because of the emta functionality the 6183 lacks.
So if you need a reasonably priced 16x4 channel modem that doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the gateways the ISPs try to rent you and you dont have voice service from comcast, you can get an arris 6183 and save a few bucks.
If you however have a triple play with voice, this modem is basically a 6183 with voice. If you check the datasheets its the exact same broadcom chipset.
If you feel the need to check the webUI of this modem you will find its very simple and there isn't a lot you can do from there other than check the status and reboot the modem. The webUI is very lean on functionality. But honestly, I dont consider that an issue because as subscribers to an ISP we dont really handle any of the configuration anyway. The modem downloads the docsis config form the ISP when its provisioned so really that point is moot.
| Brand | NETGEAR |
|---|---|
| Series | CM600 |
| Item model number | CM600-1AZNAS |
| Item Weight | 2.01 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 5.3 x 8.7 x 2.4 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 5.3 x 8.7 x 2.4 inches |
| Manufacturer | Netgear |
| ASIN | B06XGZBCKP |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | March 8, 2017 |
